Category: media

“It wasn’t supposed to be released until Thursday, but for weeks already, pirated copies of the feature film ‘Elite Squad’ — about the shady workings of Rio’s Special Operations Police Battalion — has been a best-seller at street stalls across Brazil. What people have seen in the movie proved so controversial that police tried to keep the film out of theaters.”

A large factor in the reality TV boom that hit the tube earlier this decade was the relatively low cost of producing such programs. Viewers tired quickly of the endlessly imitative shows, however, and the major networks are now once again producing original dramatic fare. But are the production costs of the new shows spinning out of control?

‘The service, which is set to start in November after a test period in October, comes less than three weeks after NBC Universal said it was pulling its programs out of the highly successful iTunes service of Apple Inc.”

“The outcome of negotiations on a new three-year labor pact covering 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America is expected to hinge on issues related to how the Internet has altered the economics of show business.”

“Over the next few weeks, the war will land at many more local multiplexes, thanks to prominent feature films starring Robert Redford, John Cusack, Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones – and co-starring the war either in the background or in your face. It is unprecedented for so many Hollywood films to depict a war in anything but flattering terms while the country is still fighting it… Why now? Filmmakers feel many Americans are seeing a sanitized, bloodless view of the war in the mainstream media.”

“Canada’s film board risks losing large swaths of its vast library because it lacks the technology to digitize the aging collection, a newly released document says. Much of the National Film Board’s library of more than 13,000 films is in peril because the agency’s catalogue is ‘largely non-digitized’ and could deteriorate, says an internal audit obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.”

Fox TV execs said they censored Sally Field and two others on Sunday’s Emmy telecast because of hazy FCC rules against obscenity. “That very murkiness led Fox to err on the side of caution, executives said. But that explanation didn’t fly with many critics, who noted that the show was laced with racy innuendo.The censorship of Field was one of three such incidents on Sunday. The network also cut away when comedian Ray Romano made a sexually suggestive remark and when Katherine Heigl uttered a profanity in response to her win as supporting actress on a drama series.”

“Preliminary figures from Nielsen Media Research put the audience for Sunday’s show, aired on Fox, at 13.1 million viewers. That’s 3 million fewer than for last year’s telecast, on NBC, and less than the record low 13.8 million three years ago on ABC.”

“It was a night when 20 different shows won Emmy awards, with nods to both old favorites like James Spader and breakout stars like Katherine Heigl. Make no mistake, though: ‘The Sopranos’ solidified its place in television history with key wins for series, writing and directing.”

Sally Field, accepting an Emmy for Best Actress, tried to make an anti-war comment in her speech. But Fox censored the remark, abruptly killing the live feed in mid-broadcast Sunday night. “Viewers missed most of her last sentence, as Fox cut away to the back of the auditorium. A network publicist said Field was bleeped out because of her use of ‘god’ and ‘damn’ together.”